Being a FGLI Student at Barnard
Hello everyone!
I hope this Spring semester is treating you well. My name is Jessica Moreira, I am a senior student at Barnard majoring in Economics and minoring in Education and it is so good to write again to you! Some of you might have already read some of my blog posts here on the website, but for those who haven’t, I would like to quickly introduce myself: I am an international student from Sao Paulo Brazil and also a first-generation and low-income (FGLI) student at Barnard. Outside the classroom, I am involved in activities at the Admissions Office at Barnard where I work as a BSAR and I am also a tutor on campus.
Today, I want to write to you about my experience as being a first-generation and low-income (FGLI) student at Barnard. Before coming to college, I would wonder how the community would welcome and support students who, like myself, did not grow up in a financially privileged situation. When I got to Barnard, I could notice and experience by myself a supportive community that, even though is very diverse, does understand that FGLI students have specific needs that the majority of students do not have. And for that reason, Barnard makes sure that these students have the necessary resources and opportunities to support themselves so they can thrive academically and personally during their time at college as well as any other student at college.
One of the most recent resources created by the college for FGLI students was Access Barnard. This is a new office created to support students who identify as first generation, low-income and international students. They have different programs, staff, and resources to help these students not only financially - which is also very important - but also psychologically and personally. I personally have been using their resources since they started their operations in Fall 2019, and I can say that it made it easier to navigate Barnard to centralize all the resources for FGLI and international students in one central office. I would recommend any prospective FGLI student who has already been accepted into Barnard or who is going to apply to reach out to browse their page on Barnard’s website and get to know more about the different ways that they can support you in your journey at Barnard.